Argument of William H. Seward, in defence of Abel F. Fitch and others, under an indictment for arson, delivered at Detroit, on the 12th, 13th and 15th days of September, 1851.: Phonographically reported by T. C. Leland.

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11th of April. These are the same which I have called the duplicates. It is e,ertain that
somebody made the matches. It is morally certain that they were made or procured to be
made by either Phelps and Lake, who produced them, or by the defendants. The presump.
tion of law,I need not tell you,is that they were manufactured by Phelps and Lake,in whose
possession they were found. But Phelps and Lake say that they derived their possession
from the defendants Take notice now that no one but Phelps and Lake ever saw a
match in the possession of the defendants before the 8th of April. When actual evidence of the manufactnre of a thing cannot be procured, we resort of course to circumstantial testimony. Evidence of the possession of materials and instruments used in making the matches must be leceived. The materials of which these matches are made,
are seasoned whitewood lumber in the form used by the Raihoad Company for cattle
guards, varnish, camnphene, shoe-makers' wax, cotton batting, brown wrapping paper and
thread. These forty and more defendants were arrested nnsuspectingly in the night
time and hurried away to prison, where they have remained ever since. The police,
armed with search warrants and conveyed in unlimited numbers by steam engines, have
searched the dwellings, out.houses, farms, and even bed-roomnas, cellars, closets and garrets of the defendants-their chests, bureaus, drawers and every possible place of concealment, yet not a splinter of whitewood has been found in their possession, nor does
that timber grow in the region where they live. Not a, thread, not a filament of cotton, nor
a drop of camphene, nor a leaf of paper is to be found. The instruments employed in the
manufacture were a saw,a plane and augers. No instrumnent of either kind has ever been
found in the defendants' possession. If the defendants had made or procured these
matches to be made, some merchant in town or country would have come and have told us
that he sold some of the materials; some mechanic, that he furnished the instruments;
some spy or casual listener, to prove that he saw some part of the operation, or overheard consultations about it. Not a whitewood scantling, nor plank, nor cattle guard, is
found in that neighborhood. No man appears to testify that he ever saw a piece
of such lumber bought, or drawn by the defendants, or delivered to them. If the matches
were made by the defendants, that secret must have been in the possession of forty men,
and must have come to the knowledge, directly or indirectly, of their wives, children,
laboring men and strangers, sojourning within their gates. The prosecution has heldl
and exercised a power equal to that of torture. They have not extorted, neither by
threats nor rewards,'a confession that any defendant ever saw or used any such materials
or instruments. The defendants have lain perishing in jail, subject to the continual visitation and surviellance of the police, from the District Attorney downwards. No one of the
defendants purchases his liberty by confessing knowledge of the manufacture of thece
matches.
Again, it is beyond all doubt that if the defendants made these matches, then they
made them to destroy. They never would have delivered them to Gay and Phelps to
burn Depots, unless it was certain that when applied, they would have effected
their work of destruction. But these matches were made-not to burn-not to destroy-but to humbug, deceive, and defraud. They have deceived and defrauded;
they have not destroyed, and cannot destroy.
So much in regard to the defendants: let us now turn to the other party. The
idea of a match or an instrument of such a kind arose in the mind of somne6body in
the State Prison, at Jackson, at the time when Phelps and Lake were there.
In form, the instrument is like the wooden model of the revolving cannon, produced
there by one of the prisoners. Phelps admits that he knew of that invention. He
does not admit that he saw it, but Phelps was intquisitive and impudent, and the
invention was notorious. That invention never came to the knowledge of the de.
fendants. Look, now, at this humbug-this "cunning instr,ment cased up"-a contrivance, not to burn houses with, but to circumvent credulous and timaid Jurors,
and punish obnoxious enemies. See if it does not wear an appearance of fraud-if
it doe" not give out an odor of vulgar felony. It is State Prison, all over, and through
and through.
Remember, now, that Phelps and Gay, in the first interview of their renewed acquaintance, in December, contrived a plot to effect a release of the culprit, Van Sickles, which was to be predicated upon the burning of a Depot. The plot was
this:-that a Depot was to be burned, or, as Phelps prefered that it should be pred.
icated upon the accidental fire which had already taken place at Detroit-that the
fictitious crime was to be falsely charged upon Joe Boyce, who had dishonored his profesion by stealing from thieve, and that it was to be carried out by subponaing a